Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti argues that with the help of designers like the new graduates, cities will become the generators of solutions to contemporary problems. He stresses that the real work of SCI-Arc graduates will be with rich, human, mash-up cultures, for which actual buildings may serve as punctuation. Garcetti concludes by offering four words of encouragement:

Be fearless, i.e. dare to dream boldly.

Be humble, i.e. consider all the ways to powerfully benefit cities that are not ego-driven, or monumental–citing the Ise Grand Shrine and CicLAvia.

Learn to listen, which combined with boldness and humility makes for a great leader.

Lead with love–acknowledge that design is about connecting people, for purposes of furthering what Aristotle defined as the purpose of cities: the good life.

Moss describes the importance of architecture engaging urban environments. He describes the urban issues surrounding Los Angeles, characterizing its “lack of vision” as its secret for success. Moss argues that this creates the opportunity to reinvent the city’s image.

Moss describes SCI-Arc’s role in promoting innovation and resisting codification of forms, techniques, styles, and methods. Moss stresses that SCI-Arc’s strength is its ability to pull from different practices as a means to inspire. He describes the importance of architecture engaging urban environments. He characterizes Los Angeles’s “lack of vision” as its secret for success, arguing that this creates the opportunity to reinvent the city’s image. Moss responds to questions, discussing the role of the architect in big infrastructural projects, negotiating public interest, and civic desires. He describes how SCI-Arc promotes such investigations.

David Bergman talks about the parameter of time as a pathway for urban development. When speaking about the parameter of volume, Bergman stresses how floor area ratios and zoning envelopes are manipulated by capital and commerce. He contrasts urban growth over time in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Butte, and Detroit.

David Bergman proposes thinking about cities in terms of five parameters: the generic point, area “as signifier of culture,” volume as “the power of the state exercised on a building,” time as “a pathway for development,” and capitalism as “a technology for development.” He discusses the contemporary city as a construction of economic policies and zoning regulations designed to increase capital investments. He discusses the urban mapping achieved by Nolli’s map of Rome. Bergman talks about the parameter of time as a pathway for urban development. When speaking about the parameter of volume, Bergman stresses how floor area ratios and zoning envelopes are manipulated by capital
and commerce. He contrasts urban growth over time in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Butte, and Detroit. Bergman describes capital as the fifth dimension of urban development, and the force that creates cities and spurs economic growth. Bergman argues that all architectural proposals are economically evaluated accoding to four measures: net operating rate, capitalization rate, rate of return, and total rate of return.

The jury talks about the feasibility of the entries to the competition. They discuss the need for policies geared toward implementing innovative designs. They talk about Los Angeles, technology and the automobile.